Ed Geary — the director of Western Washington University’s Science, Math and Technology Education program — got a three-year, $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to explore a different way to teach math and science.

Geary has enlisted almost 60 faculty members at Western, as well as Whatcom Community College and Skagit Valley College to use a new model of teaching, one that puts focus on group-based, student-centered problem solving.